How Captain Jean-Luc Picard Influenced Me

Screencap taken from an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation

There are not too many characters on television that can go multiple seasons and remain a true hero type the entire run. I'm not necessarily talking about super powers when I say hero. Just someone that can remain a role model for every episode during a show's run. Often a protagonist-type of character will have at least some sort of slip up if their television series runs long enough (unless you're in a sitcom).

One character that remained the positive role model type for 178 episodes.

His name was Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Out of all the main cast members from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Picard was the only one that remained a positive character for every episode. Data turned evil when his brother Lore and the Borg teamed up; Riker fell under the influence of Q for an episode; and even La Forge got in a war of words with Wesley when it came to Crusher's dating life.

You could say that Picard may have been swayed towards the dark side when he became Locutus of the Borg. I would argue that with the nanobots that transformed Picard into a member of the Borg, he was temporarily no longer himself, but a whole separate person.

Now to get to the point of this post. I give you the things that I have learned from Jean-Luc Picard.

1. Earl Grey Tea - I have had tea many times in my life, but it wasn't until Picard would order the replicator to make him Earl Grey tea that I even knew there were other flavors. I only thought tea came in one flavor. Because of Picard, I found out that tea could have a hint of citrus. As I grew older, I found that I actually preferred tea to most non-alcoholic drinks. Not just hot tea, but iced tea as well. This revelation came because of Captain Picard's obsessive ordering of the same flavor of tea.

2. Pulp Fiction - I have always been the bookworm type. It wasn't until Captain Picard entered the holodeck and assumed the role of the private detective known as Dixon Hill before I knew what mid-twentieth century pulp fiction was. It was because of the Dixon Hill character that Picard loved that I became interested in the cheesy but interesting storylines. This eventually led to my love of movies such as LA Confidential. In some way it may have been one of the factors to my current career as both a writer and online investigator.

3. Whiskey - Maybe this isn't a positive aspect I learned from Picard, but his choice of alcohol is Aldebaran whiskey. Obviously I can't try an alien brand of whiskey, but it led me to try whiskey first out of all the hard liquors. Now, out of all the hard liquors out there, I found that I enjoy a nice whiskey the most. The moment Picard shared a shot of whiskey with Scotty from the original series was an awesome moment for me. It connected my favorite character from the original series to one of my favorite characters from the newer series.

4. Never Back Down - In fairness, I've learned this from many different avenues of influence in my life. Picard was just one of those who cemented this thinking into my personality. Even when confronted with malevolent characters with god-like powers such as Q and Ardra, Picard never flinches. From episode one of the Next Generation series, Picard matches wits with characters of undeniable powers and in every case, he defeats them through will and occasionally with his smarts. He even put the Enterprise on the line in a court case against Ardra who claimed to be also known as the devil on Earth. Confident in his abilities in a courtroom setting, Picard held his own.

5. Dealing with Lose - In this, I don't mean dealing with the death of someone close to you. I mean dealing with the fact that no matter what, you will lose at some point in your life. In the episode called "Peak Performance", Picard tells Data, "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life." He was right.

6. Be Yourself - Picard realized that one of the biggest headaches in life is when you try to be someone you're not. It causes problems and could lead to disaster in your social life. From the first episode of the series, Picard said, "If we’re going to be damned, let’s be damned for what we really are.”

6. Silence is Golden - Picard was not written to be the Captain Kirk-type of character. Initially he wasn't the type of captain that would sleep with every alien woman he encountered. He was quiet and did not brag about those he slept with or at least had relationships with. By the time the television series wrapped up and the movies were done being made, Picard had been in the most relationships out of any of the crew members of Enterprise D. I'm not kidding.

Picard started in the academy, pining for a woman with the initials A.F. His feelings for her were strong enough that he carved their initials in groundskeeper's Boothby's prized tree and then failed Organic Chemistry because he couldn't take his mind off her.

He then had a relationship with Jenice Manheim, but chose his career over love. He then moved on to Vash when he vacationed on Risa. The two not only had a physical attraction, but a common love in archeology. Any hope of this relationship was quashed when she ran off with Q.

Picard had a run-in with an empathic metamorph named Kamala (played by Famke Janssen). The two bonded so well that it left a lasting impression on Picard.

Another woman, Nella Daren, took over the Enterprise's Stellar Sciences department. The red-head (a common theme for Picard) became so inseparable from Picard that the rest of the crew noticed. Troi gave her blessing while Dr. Crusher became jealous. Eventually, Picard was forced to make a decision to save lives, putting Daren's life on the line. She survived, but the two knew they couldn't continue to work together.

And then there was Anij, a 300-year-old woman that Picard fell for while saving her people from the Ba'ku. Before leaving, he pledged that he would spend his 318 days of shore leave to visit her.

And then there are those that Picard never hooked up with--or at least not on camera. He had a relationship with Guinan that was said to go beyond friendship. Maybe they hooked up a few times, but decided to be friends. Then there was Lwaxana Troi. She would openly say that she liked the naughty thoughts that he had about her. Even when butting heads with the false god, Arda, she made it known that she wanted Picard to be her own personal love toy and even was willing to morph into the shape of others including Deanna Troi to get him hot.

Finally, there is Dr. Beverly Crusher. Picard has a thing for red-heads and she fits the bill. Despite commanding the mission that led to the death of her husband, Crusher had feelings for Picard for the entire series. In several "future" based stories, it was shown that the two would eventually marry.

Ultimately Picard had the best love life on the Enterprise without bragging about it or using the holodeck to fulfill his fantasies (i.e. Barclay).

Final Point... While many still view Captain James T. Kirk as the ideal star ship captain, it was Picard that held all the necessary traits to be a legend. Kirk was just born before Picard and therefore his legend grew. If he had to live up to the expectation levels of Picard, Kirk may have only been considered above average.